Hot pot is probably hands down my favorite way of eating; breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's a style of Chinese cuisine that serves all the ingredients raw, uncooked and fresh, along with a pot of boiling soup in the center. Then the enjoyment of cooking your own food, mixing and creating your own sauce and having a fun time doing it together as a group of friends or family.

Many of my friends have come to me to ask for recommendations of where to eat hot pot in Flushing; "whats the best spot", "where has the best soup", "best and freshest ingredients?"...etc etc; So I decided to compile a list of my favorite hot pot places and what each one has to offer in my eyes. Everything of course is subjective and I appreciate and acknowledge that everyone has different opinions and tastebuds, so please feel free to comment and make suggestions! I'm always open to trying a new place! Happy eating!

MISTER HOT POT

133-42 39th Ave. Flushing, NY 11354 | Phone number (718) 939-3334

My first choice and current favorite is Mister Hot Pot. Originating from Brooklyn, they recently opened by the pavilion near the new Hyatt hotel near prince street and 39th Ave in Flushing. Their soup is fantastic, extremely rich and tasty. Delicious.

They even have their own special way of making sauce. They BRING the whole set to your table and advise you how to make the sauce. They also have a little cubby hole at the side of the table where you can place your phone- and the top of the cubby hole is transparent so you can still SEE your notifications without getting your phone dirty and covered in soup and sauce! They also have these well designed shelves behind each booth chair to store your clothes/jacket/purse so it doesn't have the hot pot smell stuck when you leave. Real cute and thoughtful gimmicks won me over. Not to mention they have this amazingly DELICIOUS fried dough that you order and quickly dip into your soup and consume to your hearts content. I highly recommend this place for its food, cute gimmicks and fun atmosphere. It's more of a hot pot place you go with a group of friends to celebrate and enjoy yourself. It's also pretty tough to get a seat these days during dinner time, so make sure you call in advance to place a reservation! PS: Free melona ice bars for dessert... YAS! // Shared Pot // $35-60 per person

HOT POINT POT

This gem, my husband and I found because we were being lazy and didn't want to walk too far to find dinner. But what an amazing discovery! This place is quiet, never crowded, has great staff and super fresh ingredients. The main point: SUPER FRESH INGREDIENTS. I've eaten at a lot of different hot pot places, and never have I seen such fresh meats. The soup base is perfect as well. Not overly salty but just enough richness to cook and drink. The service is great too, everyone that works there has a little earpiece that they use to speak to each other like they're in the CIA. One of the waitresses told us that the manager uses it to let them know if they need work on certain things and communicate to each other quickly. Their service is ON POINT here. Every time I look up, they're either cleaning up my dishes or asking if we need anything or enjoying our food. I highly recommend this place for any occasion!// Shared Pot // $25-45 per person

LITTLE SHEEP MONGOLIAN HOT POT

136-59 37th Ave. Flushing, NY 11354 | Phone number (718) 762-8881

One of my old favorites. Supposedly it is a chain restaurant that originated in China and is all over the country. When they first opened, all hell broke loose and I was there every week. Their soup was hands down the best thing I'd ever tasted. So good, that I never even use ANY sauce. I would just cook the meat and vegetables in the soup and totally be floored by it's deliciousness.

They had fresh ingredients, price was a little steep, but the soup was everything. In the first year of their opening, the wait for dinner was always an hour+ but now it seems to have calmed down a bit- also because of the volumes of other hot pot joints opening up throughout Flushing.It's been open for about 2 years now and it's quality has seemingly gone down. The soup is a little too salty these days and from what I've heard, the owners have changed hands at least 2-3 times since it opened... so many things have changed here and there. It is still my to-go hot pot place in Flushing. // Shared Pot // $35-50 per person

SPRING SHABU SHABU BUFFET

136-20 38th Ave. Flushing, NY 11354 | Phone number (718) 395-8076

This place is pure amazing. IF it had top notch soup, I would have had this place at number one. However, it's lacking in that department... but everything else here is bliss. First of all, imagine a clean, well maintained space with almost EVERYTHING you could EVER want in your hot pot. I always feel like I'm like some crazy 5 year old in a candy shop. They have pretty much every type of tofu; tofu skin, fried tofu, mushroom type tofu, fish tofu, like 15 different types of carbs, noodles, dukkbuki, soba, ramen, udon... cabbage, napa, watercress, tons of greens that I dont even know the english names of... all available for you to put onto your plate and eat. Yes, this is a BUFFET, but the kind that has so many varieties that you'd never get bored. The meat you have to order separately, but honestly, even for me who LOVES meat at hot pot... at $4 for a plate of meat, it's pretty worth it because you're basically paying for the joy of scavenging the restaurant and finding new things to try at the buffet. The price is really reasonable- ESPECIALLY if you get the lunch special.// Individual Pot // Lunch Special: $11.95 - $16 (with meat) // Dinner $14.95 - $25 (with meat)

THE DOLAR SHOP

3636 Prince St. Flushing, NY 11354 | Phone number (718) 358-7777

This is a brand new spot that just opened about a few weeks ago. Their decor is a bit over the top, fancy bowls and fancy hot pot stations and fancy ways to cover your jacket so the hot pot smell doesnt stick to it. But the fancy doesn't really move me. My husband says their specialty ox-tail soup is the best thing he's ever tasted.. but I don't share his delight for this spot. The ingredients were fresh, but their base soup was somewhat lacking. Staff is friendly and helpful, but for the price and ingredients, I think you can find better soup and time well spent elsewhere.// Individual Pot // $35-60 per person

LITTLE LAMB MONGOLIAN HOT POT

Probably the best place to find parking if you're not from Flushing and you're driving in for a good night of hot pot dinner. This place is nestled inside Skyview Mall and has a designated parking lot for it's customers. When Little Lamb first opened, everyone was confused, thinking they were the same as "Little Sheep"-- but definitely they are NOT. Their soup tastes a LITTLE bit like the one from Little Sheep.. but not as delicious and it lacks a richness and freshness to it. Their soup lacks that milky faint creaminess that Little Sheep has... but it's a close runner up. Their staff isnt as friendly as I would hope, and their ingredients seem a little too frozen to be deemed as "fresh". // Shared Pot // $25-50 per person

LION PAVILION HOT POT

136-76 39th Ave. Flushing, NY 11354 | Phone number (917) 285-2942

This place recently opened a few months ago and lives on the top floor of a nail salon. I went recently for their lunch special and was greeted with kind staffers and a clean table. The soup wasn't too heavy and was tasty. Their lunch special was abundant in vegetables but lacking in the meat department... and isn't that what we all want.....? MEAT? Anyways, it wasn't a bad or necessarily great experience. So this is a place I would go to if everywhere else was full or closed.// Shared Pot // $30-50 per person

ZEBRA LOUNGE

A great place to go to if you're eating hot pot with a group of 4 or less. Zebra lounge is a bar and karaoke spot along with a front section of hot pot tables. They have really clean karaoke rooms and good service. If you ever want to eat hot pot then go ktv after; this would be your spot. They even have little booths for those that want to eat hot pot WHILE karaoking! Those tables max at 6-8 persons. //Individual Pot // $18-30 per person

MINNIS SHABU SHABU

136-17 38th Ave. Flushing, NY 11354 | Phone number (718) 762-6277

Wow, what can I say about this place. Minnie's to me, is the ORIGINAL and longest lasting hot pot spot in Flushing. I remember going there when I was in High School (over 10+ years ago) to celebrate friends birthdays and other occasions. The most memorable thing about it was that whenever you went to eat there, the entire restaurant would be fogged over from all the steam from the pots. LUCKILY, they have renovated in the last 10 years and fixed their issue with the fog and steam. Minnie's is one of the firsts and rare places that give each person an individual pot. This is a great place for large parties and people who are a bit germaphobic. Everyone gets their own set of vegetables and meat and can cook at their own pace and to their own liking. Also, I believe Minnie's is one of the most affordable spot for hot pot these days. Go to any of the shared pots at the top of the list and you'll easily rack up $30-40 a head if you want a hearty meal. At Minnie's you can get a decent amount of food for under $20. But with that, you'll get prettttty rude service, some dirty plates here and there, super frozen meat and vegetables and maybe even a caterpillar (YES IT HAPPENED TO ME) in your veggies. So please eat with care and open eyes. Yes, I still go there even all those things have happened to me. //Individual Pot // $18-30 per person

*special mentions*

Basement ALL YOU CAN EAT - I have no idea what this place is called in English (Golden Shopping Mall - 41-28 Main St. Flushing, NY 11355 )If you are in the mood for something really "hole in the wall" and have an iron stomach, I can also recommend a pretty cool and hidden spot in the basement of one of the oldest food courts in Flushing. It's far in the back of the "Golden Shopping Mall" in the basement. It's an all you can eat Hot Pot Spot that only costs about $18 and comes with anything you could possibly want. It's dingy, it's dirty, but it's hella good and hella cheap. So this is not for the weak. //Individual Pot // $17 per person

FUKUOKA SHABU SHABU

This spot is a little further out in Queens (Bayside). This is where my husband and I hit up when we want to be away from the crowds of people in Flushing and easily find parking and not wait in line for a seat. There is plenty of parking around the area and the atmosphere is overall calmer. We can eat in undisrupted peace. The staff and service is friendly and hospitable. The space has tons of natural light and the tables are spaced out so there's plenty of space around you and no one is cramped together. They have a variety of soups to choose from, but since I'm basic, I usually order the regular broth. To be honest, the soups are mediocre, but the portions are large so the price is reasonable. It's just so nice to get away from all the people sometimes. The best part of this place is their MILK TEA. My friend told me about it and ever since I've been hooked. They have this killer iced tea that has a faint taste of grass jelly and it is SOOO amazing. There's only one other bakery that I know of in Flushing that has this taste (SUN MARY BAKERY) and I don't know what kind of crack powder they're using-but ITS AWESOME. You can get the milk tea with tapioca if you'd like as well.

Fukoku also has another location in Flushing at 45-68 Kissena Blvd. Flushing, NY 11355. I haven't been there myself, but it cant be that different.//INDIVIDUAL POT // $15-$20 PER PERSON